Betty MacDonald Fan Club

Betty MacDonald Fan Club. Join fans of the beloved writer Betty MacDonald (1907-58). The original Betty MacDonald Fan Club and literary Society. Welcome to Betty MacDonald Fan Club and Betty MacDonald Society - the official Betty MacDonald Fan Club Website with members in 40 countries.
Betty MacDonald, the author of The Egg and I and the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle Series is beloved all over the world. Don't miss Wolfgang Hampel's Betty MacDonald biography and his very witty interviews on CD and DVD!

As
we all know Wolfgang Hampel founded Betty MacDonald Fan Club and Betty
MacDonald Society in 1983.

Betty MacDonald Fan Club has members in 40
countries. Wolfgang
Hampel's new Betty MacDonald documentary of Betty MacDonald's life in
Boulder, Butte, Seattle, Laurelhurst, Chimacum, Vashon Island, Carmel
and Carmel Valley is really fascinating. My personal favourites are
scenes of Betty's and Don's life in Carmel and Carmel Valley.

Germany faces months of instability as Angela Merkel seeks to form a government with two parties that are bitter enemies.

In
what could be her biggest challenge in 12 years in office, the
Chancellor will also face a hostile Bundestag with the anti-Islam,
anti-EU policies of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) setting
much of the agenda.

Thousands of people
protested in western Germany after the AfD won more than 90 seats in
the Bundestag, with 12.6 per cent of the vote, boosted by the support of
up to 45 per cent of voters in the former East Germany.

AfD spokesman Joerg Meuthen said the party had offered constructive co-operation. “Riots is not the way to go,” he said.

“We
plan to be strong opposition, the country needs it. We want to bring
attention to infringements around migration and European policy and we
are not going to sit back.”

Mrs Merkel
appealed to Social Democrat leader Martin Schulz to rethink his refusal
to form a coalition, saying “things might look different in the
morning’’.

Her
Christian Democrat party scored its lowest result since 1949, with 32
per cent of the vote. The Social Democrats, crushed by their worst
election result, at 20 per cent, want to form a strong opposition to
­suppress the AfD voice.

Mrs Merkel
will be left with two unappetising choices, to form a minority
government with the Christian Socialists or to offer concessions to the
left-wing Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP). The FDP and
the Greens have many clashing policies and a history of open hostility
towards each other.

“I am a practical
person and Germany needs a government and there are at least two
options,’’ Mrs Merkel said. “I don’t think we will instantly have a new
government. These are turbulent times.’’

She
said she hoped a working government could be in place by Christmas. She
accepted responsibility for the refugee crisis that has split the
country, but insisted she made the right decision.

“I
am not trying to escape this,” she said. “We have recapitulated what
happened in the autumn of 2015. All other discussions discussed were not
an option and I believe the decision I made was right.

“We
haven’t fully managed to get rid of concerns; issues about integration,
migration, and external border protection isn’t where it needs to be.
There is still much that needs to be done.’’

The
AfD has threatened to start an inquiry into the legality of Mrs
Merkel’s decision to open borders to about 1.5 million immigrants, many
of them North African economic migrants, in addition to Syrian and Iraqi
asylum-seekers.

Mr Meuthen said the AfD had been strongly supported by the German people.

Mr
Schulz blamed the shift to the right on the Chancellor’s policy vacuum
and foreshadowed paralysis in the Bundestag. “Mrs Merkel will
rubberstamp everything and she will pay concessions to stay in power.
She is a hoover of ideas, she sucks up everyone’s ideas. There will be a
contradiction coalition between the Greens and Christian Socialists;
that will paralyse the government.’’

Mrs
Merkel will have to harden her migrant policies, particularly
strengthening borders and removing unsuccessful asylum-seekers, to help
the Christian Socialists in Bavarian state elections next year.

If
she partners with the FDP, it wants a Canadian or Australian-style
immigration model allowing for much more control and focusing on skilled
workers. Domestically, Ms Merkel faces pressure to raise pensions for
an ageing population and to stimulate the steel and carmaking industries
while satisfying the Greens’ calls for renewable energy targets.

Mrs
Merkel will also battle to gain any Bundestag support for an expanded
EU, European army or German involvement in euro bonds. That will impact
on the expansionist aims of European Commission President Jean Claude
Juncker and the pro-European alliance proposed by French President
Emmanuel Macron.

If it was a wonderful one and I enjoyed my family, husband and children so much it could last much longer.

But sometimes if the weather is grey and rainy and family stressed me a lot I say to myself: Welcome Monday!

And I adore my job as a teacher!

How does your Monday look like?

Can you remember Betty MacDonald wrote about Monday in the mountains in her golden egg?

Monday—Washday!

Washing was something that the mountain
farm women had contests doing to see who could get it on the line first
Monday morning. All except me. I had a contest with myself to see how
long I could put off doing it at all. I attacked my washing with the
same sense of futility I would have had in attempting to empty the ocean
with a teaspoon. Bob had been a Marine in World War I and instead of
being shell-shocked he carried home a fixation that a helmetful of water
was enough to wash anything, including blankets, and on Monday morning
he would say cheerfully at breakfast, "Going to wash today?" and I would
answer hopefully, "Yes, and it's going to be a HUGE ENORMOUS washing!"
And so Bob would go whistling down through the orchard to the spring and
bring back about four tablespoonfuls in the bottom of each bucket and
then disappear into the woods where he remained incommunicado until
lunch. A few times I left the washing until after lunch but learned that
a sufficiency of water does not compensate for having to straddle
clothes baskets and wash boards while cooking dinner or having to leave
the warm house and hang out wet clothes in the dark. So I carried 99 per
cent of my wash water and if I was able to get it hot and could scrub
the clothes clean they never dried in winter, so what?Also the water was so hard it should have been chipped out of the spring
and even when mixed 40-60 with soap produced70 nothing but a greasy scum
and after a day spent scrubbing clothes in that liquid mineral I could
peel the skin off my hands like gloves.I entered all of the soap contests in the vain hope that I would win
$5000 and never have to use theirs or any other washing powder again as
long as I lived. I failed to understand why farm wives were always
talking about the sense of accomplishment they derived from doing a
large washing. I would have had a lot more feeling of accomplishment
lying in bed while someone else did the washing.

Do you like this one?

Train your mind to see the good in everything?

I'm afraid that's too much for me.

I guess Betty MacDonald would say: It sounds like some of these great advices of Firland Sanatorium.

You only have to push the ' join' button on this page. Don't miss it, please.Send us your email-adress, please and we are going to send this very special Betty MacDonald fan club gift to you.Good luck in anwering our Betty MacDonald fan club contest questiones.Maybe you will be our next Betty MacDonald fan club surprise winners.

9 Tips to Make Monday Your Favorite Day of the Week

If you’re anything like I used to be, it wouldn’t even be noon on
Sunday before I started dreading Monday morning. Sure, you’re a happy
and positive person, and you may even be satisfied with your job and the
people you work with. Either way, the drudgery and toil of a Monday
work day makes you cringe a bit, and easily convinces you that the time
on Sundays fly by far faster than any other day of the week. I used to
feel that negative knot in my stomach every Sunday, and I realized it
had become habit. My thought patterns looked like this: Sunday is here?
Oh man, it’s almost Monday. Sigh. These were pretty toxic thoughts that I needed to vanquish quickly. While I know firsthand that there’s something so incredibly awesome
about spending your weekends at home, with the ones you love doing
whatever it is that you please (come on, who doesn’t want more of that?)
Monday can, in fact, not suck. Monday can be amazing. It can be
stress-free, productive without causing hair loss, and, believe it or
not, you can actually look forward to it. Here are eight tips I used
personally to spice up my Monday and make it far from dreadful. These
apply to everyone — whether you’re working from home or going into the
office, or maybe doing the daily routine of housework and kids. 1. Do something weekend-ish today. Go to happy hour,
meet a friend (you don’t work with) for lunch, have game night, go on a
date or go to a fun event like a movie or festival. Our brains get in
extreme Monday mode and we overdo our efforts to get “caught up” and be
super efficient. On Monday, do something you would normally reserve for
weekends. Your Monday brain may go into shock, but you’ll be proud.2. Wear something new or dress up. I know you’ve
heard that dressing for the role will help you perform better and I hope
you believe it. I work from home and truthfully, I don’t leave pajamas
most days. Putting on “real clothes” and even some fun earrings makes me
feel like I’m ready for Monday and excited to start the week. 3. Eat something different. At times, our
dissatisfaction comes from our monotonous patterns. Guess what? You’re
the owner of your life and if you want something to change, you need to
make it happen. Whether it’s breakfast, lunch or a snack at work, treat
yourself to something brand new. Make it exotic, tasty and satisfying. I
like to mix in guavas, sesame toasted seaweed, and even homemade
hummus! These are the small things that get you moving through the day
with a smile on your face.4. Don’t scramble, just recoup. Monday snooze
session. Monday traffic jam. Monday office drama. Monday to-do list
that’s unbelievably sky high. Monday emails. Yup, I know what all of
that looks like. Rather than trying to do everything on Monday, organize
and prioritize. Sort your emails and projects by level of importance.
Plan out what you can do the next day and for the rest of the week.
We’re not “backed up” from the weekend. Weekend is off time! You are
allowed to re-assign stuff, even if it’s to yourself. The quality of your work will improve, and your sanity will remain intact. BAM.5. Change up the music selection. Create a brand new
Pandora station or listen to your favorite song from 10 years ago.
Again, these little pick me ups make all the difference. If you’ve never
listened to music while you work, try it out. It’s not for everyone,
but my stations definitely get me through the week. 6. Add a picture to your workspace. Print a pic from
your phone, pick up a frame and stick it on your desk. It could be your
spouse, your pet or your favorite place you’ve visited. Let your eyes
fall on the things that you know make you happy. Change them up every
now and then. This one is golden, trust me.7. Hydrate... in a fun way. This may sound basic and
even off topic but hear me out. Most people do not drink enough water.
With the stress of a job, tending to clients, selling, answering phones
and emails or whatever your job may entail, we often get distracted and
simply forget! Keep water by you at all times and spice it up with
something fun. I add frozen fruit, cucumbers or lemons to my water. Your
brain will operate more smoothly and you’ll feel better overall moving
Monday up on the awesome scale. 8. Smile and show thanks. This is something we
should do no matter where we are. Remind yourself of your opportunities
and show appreciation to anyone who has helped you get there, including
yourself! I like to make fun little cards for my family and friends once
a week. Maybe bring in some candy or treats for the people you work
with. Get the positive juices flowing and remember, karma is a real
thing. 9. Plan something to look forward to. Whatever it
is, it doesn’t have to be Monday. In fact, I would recommend planning it
for mid or later in the week. It feels so nice having something fun and
exciting to look forward to outside of work. It doesn’t have to break
the bank either. Have a family member over, visit your neighbor or play a
game! Mr. Mike and I love playing Uno... fun times!“Monday” isn’t the same day for everyone. Maybe it’s not the same day
each week. Maybe it’s just the day you have meetings or appointments.
Either way, make it awesome. You deserve to feel happy, grateful and
light every day. I promise that one or all of the above will seriously
help. Good luck!

Angela Merkel Makes History in German Vote, but So Does Far Right

BERLIN — Angela Merkel won a fourth term as chancellor in elections on Sunday, placing her in the front ranks of Germany’s
postwar leaders, even as her victory was dimmed by the entry of a
far-right party into parliament for the first time in more than 60
years, according to preliminary results.

Ms.
Merkel and her center-right Christian Democrats won, the center held,
but it was weakened. The results made clear that far-right populism —
and anxieties over security and national identity — were far from dead
in Europe.

They
also showed that Germany’s mainstream parties were not immune to the
same troubles that have afflicted mainstream parties across the
Continent, from Italy to France to Britain.

“We
expected a better result, that is clear,” Ms. Merkel said Sunday night.
“The good thing is that we will definitely lead the next government.”

She
said that she would listen to those who voted for the Alternative for
Germany, or AfD, and work to win them back “by solving problems, by
taking up their worries, partly also their fears, but above all by good
politics,” she said.

But her comments seemed to augur a shift to the right and more of an emphasis on controls over borders, migration and security.

Christian Democratic Union
supporters celebrating exit polls at the party headquarters in Berlin on
Sunday — although the conservative bloc’s share of the votes was
sharply down from 2013.Credit
Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

Despite
her victory, Ms. Merkel and her conservatives cannot rule alone, making
it probable that the chancellor’s political life in her fourth term
will be substantially more complicated.

The
shape and policies of a new governing coalition will involve weeks of
painstaking negotiations. Smiling, Ms. Merkel said Sunday night that she
hoped to have a new government “by Christmas.”

The
center-left Social Democrats, Ms. Merkel’s coalition partners for the
last four years, ran a poor second to her center-right grouping, and the
Social Democrats announced Sunday evening that the party would go into
opposition, hoping to rebuild their political profile.

But
the step would also make sure that the AfD, stays on the political
sidelines and does not become the country’s official opposition.

The
Alternative for Germany nonetheless vowed to shake the consensus
politics of Germany, and in breaking a postwar taboo by entering
parliament, it already had.

Alexander
Gauland, one of AfD’s leaders, told party supporters after the results
that in parliament: “We will go after them. We will claim back our
country.”

To cheers, he said: “We did it. We are in the German parliament and we will change Germany.”

Burkhard
Schröder, an AfD member since 2014 from Düsseldorf, was ecstatic. “We
are absolutely euphoric here,” he said. “This is a strong victory for us
that has weakened Angela Merkel.”

“We will go after them,”
Alexander Gauland, one of the leaders of Alternative for Germany, told
party supporters on Sunday. “We will claim back our country.”Credit
Michael Probst/Associated Press

Up to 700 protesters gathered outside the AfD’s election night party, chanting slogans like “All of Berlin, hate the AfD.”

“It’s
important to show that it’s not normal that a neofascist party got into
the German parliament,” said Dirk Schuck, 41, a political scientist at
the University of Leipzig.

While
both Ms. Merkel and the Social Democrats lost significant voter support
from 2013, her victory vaults her into the ranks of Konrad Adenauer and
Helmut Kohl, the only postwar chancellors to win four national elections.

The election is a remarkable capstone for Ms. Merkel, 63, the first East German and the first woman to become chancellor.

It
also represents a vindication of her pragmatic leadership and
confidence in her stewardship of Europe’s largest economy and of the
European Union itself in the face of populism, challenges from Russia
and China and uncertainty created by the unpredictable policies of
President Trump.

Even
so, the advance of the far right was a cold slap for her and the
Christian Democratic Union, or CDU. The AfD made particular inroads in
the former East Germany but also in Bavaria, where Ms. Merkel’s sister
party, the Christian Social Union, or CSU, has long ruled but lost some
10 percent of its vote over 2013.

Horst Seehofer, the CSU leader, said: “We made the mistake of having the right flank open.”

A
critic of Ms. Merkel’s immigration policies, he added: “We have a
vacuum on the right, we will close it with politics that ensure Germany
remains Germany.”

Martin Schulz, leader of the Social Democrats, at a polling station in Würselen, in western Germany.Credit
Sascha Schuermann/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The late leader of that party, Franz-Josef Strauss, said in 1986 that the party should allow no one to run to their right. “To the right of us there is only the wall,” he said.

“We
will remember today in history,” said Thomas Heilmann, a member of
parliament from the CDU, in an email interview. “As in the U.S., hate
became part of politics. The CDU cannot and must not match this
attitude.”

Governing
Germany “will become more difficult,” Mr. Heilmann added. “It is
definitely not a good day for Germany and most likely not good for
Europe either.”

Clemens
Fuest, the director of IFO, the Institute for Economic Research in
Munich, said that the results showed wide concern about “security,
immigration and possible challenges to the German economic model, like
globalization,” he said.

These mattered more than the Social Democrats’ concentration on injustice and inequality, he said.

The
other parties should make less of the AfD showing “and instead ask
themselves what questions they have not answered” — questions of
borders, migration and the pressures on Germany to do more to prop up
other countries of the European Union.

Ms.
Merkel’s conservative bloc won some 32.9 percent of the vote, sharply
down from 41.5 percent in 2013, the early results showed.

The Social Democrats slumped to 20.8 percent, a new postwar low, down from 25.7 percent four years ago.

If
the Social Democrats hold to their intention to go into opposition, Ms.
Merkel will be faced with an unusually difficult task to form a working
coalition. Given the numbers, it would seem that she will have to
cobble together her own Christian Democrat-Christian Social Union bloc
together with two other parties.

The
potential new partners inhabit virtually opposite poles on the
political spectrum — the pro-business Free Democrats, who won some 10.4
percent of the vote, and the left-leaning pro-environment Greens, who
won about 9 percent.

At the Christian Democrat headquarters, Frank Wexler, a Berliner, called the results “a bit depressing.”

Grand
coalitions had allowed the small parties to gain ground, he said. “The
main parties are getting smaller,” Mr. Wexler said. To counteract the
AfD, he said, “We need to address the issue of strengthening the
borders.”

But
Mr. Wexler said he was most disturbed by the AfD’s hostility to the
European Union. “This is what Germany needs to do — be a strong leader
in Europe.”

But
Hans Kundnani, an expert on Germany with the German Marshall Fund, said
that Ms. Merkel might fail to create the three-party coalition, putting
the Social Democrats under great pressure to join another coalition
rather than forcing new elections.

To
Mr. Kundnani, “the big shock is not the AfD,” but the loss of support
for Ms. Merkel’s conservatives and the increasing fragmentation of
German political life.

A protest in Berlin against the Alternative for Germany party on Sunday, with posters like “Xenophobia is not an alternative.”Credit
Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters

Germany
has a complicated system of proportional representation, in which each
voter casts one ballot for their local representative and one ballot for
a political party. Those elected locally get their seats.

But
the parties’ overall share of seats in parliament is determined by the
percentage of votes they win. Turnout was 75.9 percent, up from 71.5
percent in 2013, but a long way from the 90 percent turnout figures of
the 1980s.

Though
initially reluctant to run for a fourth term, Ms. Merkel threw herself
into the campaign, especially as the government has brought some order
to the chaos engendered in 2015 when she threw the country’s borders
open to refugees and migrants.

But
the backlash over the migrant crisis, coupled with her long period in
office and the wishy-washy nature of grand coalition politics, has led
to more support for the more extreme, anti-European parties like the AfD
and The Left, the heir of the East German Communist Party, which came
in third in 2013 and won about 9 percent of the vote on Sunday.

In
Dresden, Gert Frülling, 75, a retiree, declined to divulge his party
preference, but made it clear that he was sympathetic to some of the
Alternative for Germany’s proposals.

“It
all happened too fast,” he said, referring to the time after Germany’s
reunification. “Dresdenis a city of bureaucrats and soldiers, and they
dumped all this multiculturalism on us at once. I know we had to change,
but it should have happened more gradually.”

He
said it would be wrong for other parties to refuse to work with the AfD
in Parliament. “If they present good ideas,” he said, “I think it’s not
fair to boycott them.”

In
Neustadt, a gentrifying area of Dresden, Rebecca Klingenburg, 20, was
clearly excited to be one of an estimated three million first-time
voters.

“One
gets to decide on what country one wants to live,” she said. A
mechanical-engineering student, Ms. Klingenburg said she was voting to
maintain Germany’s orientation toward Europe, at a time of rising
nationalism.

“I learned four languages in school,” she said. “I want to make sure that we stay internationally oriented.”

Reporting was contributed by Jack Ewing, Edmund Heaphy and Victor Homola from Berlin and Christopher F. Schuetze from Dresden.

About Me

Betty MacDonald Fan Club, founded by Wolfgang Hampel, has members in 40 countries.
Wolfgang Hampel, author of Betty MacDonald biography interviewed Betty MacDonald's family and friends. His Interviews have been published on CD and DVD by Betty MacDonald Fan Club. If you are interested in the Betty MacDonald Biography or the Betty MacDonald Interviews send us a mail, please.
Several original Interviews with Betty MacDonald are available.
We are also organizing international Betty MacDonald Fan Club Events for example, Betty MacDonald Fan Club Eurovision Song Contest Meetings in Oslo and Düsseldorf, Royal Wedding Betty MacDonald Fan Club Event in Stockholm and Betty MacDonald Fan Club Fifa Worldcup Conferences in South Africa and Germany.
Betty MacDonald Fan Club Honour Members are Monica Sone, author of Nisei Daughter and described as Kimi in Betty MacDonald's The Plague and I, Betty MacDonald's nephew, artist and writer Darsie Beck, Betty MacDonald fans and beloved authors and artists Gwen Grant, Letizia Mancino, Perry Woodfin, Traci Tyne Hilton, Tatjana Geßler, music producer Bernd Kunze, musician Thomas Bödigheimer, translater Mary Holmes and Mr. Tigerli.